220 
very minute quantities of the milk. It is often stated that fur- 
niture made from the Rengas trees retain the property for along 
time and affect the persons using it. Wood-cutters are the per- 
sons who naturally are most often injured by these trees, but 
they manage usually to avoid the action by rubbing themselves 
with coco-nut oil, which prevents the resin from touching the 
skin. Vaseline is the best application after injury from the resin, 
and Dr. Brown recommends the use also of bicarbonate of soda. 
A very similar action on the skin is produced by Caryota urens, 
L. (Palma), a palm sometimes cultivated here and wild in some 
parts of the Peninsula. A boy who climbed on a tree suffered 
for some time from its action on the thighs, hands and arms. 
SUGAR-CANE FROM SEEDS IN THE 
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS. 
Until about ten yeais ago it was supposed that the Sugar-cane 
had lost the power of producing fertile seeds, but that is now 
proved, to be an erroi. Duiing that period seedlings have been 
raised in Java, the Wbst Indies, Mauritius, Kew, and probably 
elsewhere. It is said that canes were raised from seed by a gentle- 
man in Barbadoes as far back as 1858, but little appears to be 
known of this, and the first successful attempt of which I have 
seen any authentic lccoid is that of the late Dr. F, Soltwedel at 
the Experimental Station of Samarang, in Java. This was fol- 
lowed closely by Messrs. Harrison and Bovell’s discovery at the 
Botanic Station,^ Dodds Reformatory, Barbadoes, of self-sown 
seedlings in the field, and also by their raising plants in the nur- 
sery. Opinions differ as to whether any great advantage will 
be gamed by the use of seeds, but for my own part I cannot but 
think that seeing it opens up a much wider range of variations 
than had hitherto been possible, something of practical value 
will come of it if systematically followed up. At the beginning 
too much was expected all at once, and big prices were paid for 
seedlings, merely because they were seedlings, without waiting 
to see whether they showed any marked improvement on the 
parent or not. 
As in the case of other plants that have been brought to a high 
point of perfection by selection from seed, only a small propor- 
tion can be expected to be worth perpetuating, but by selecting 
these and seeding them again we may reasonably expect to attain 
the object m view. What this object is, is set forth in an article 
m the Demerara Argosy, for November 1st, 1890, and reprinted 
^J: le vew bulletin for January, 1891. In this the writer says: — 
there are three possible ways in which we may look for im- 
provement in the sugar-cane. We may obtain a variety that 
will give a larger weight of cane per acre, though it may contain 
no more sugar per ton of cane than the better kinds we possess 
now. Again, we may obtain a variety yielding a higher percen- 
tage of sugar though the weight of cane be not increased. 
